1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to devices for supporting trash bags during filling, and more particularly, to devices for filling yard refuse bags for re-cycling purposes.
2. Description of Related Art
Many townships require residents to separate yard refuse from other trash that is set out for scheduled pick-up by placing the yard refuse in specially-designated yard refuse bags. These yard refuse bags consist of heavy paper and are rectangular in shape, much like a large shopping bag.
However, in order to fill these bags many problems occur. For example, since the yard refuse bag consists of paper, there is no support, other than the heavy paper structure to maintain in it an open position. In addition, when the person begins filling the bag and attempts to compact the collected contents, the shape of the bag becomes distorted, causing it to fall over and/or causing any compacted twigs, branches, etc. to tear or rip the bag during the filling. If the user wants to avoid this, the user may simply not fill the entire bag, but rather just obtain another bag, thereby not getting the full use of the yard refuse bag which is wasteful.
The following patents are examples of attempts to solve some of the above problems but suffer from one or more other problems discussed below.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,890,652/4,979,547/(Hoerner) disclose a collapsible trash bag support sleeve. However, the sleeve suffers from a number of problems such as failure to retain a rectangular shape during filling, thereby stressing the bag which tends to rip it. Furthermore, the trash bag's upper portion must be secured in anchoring slits that tend to rip the trash bag during filling. In addition, despite the use of firm panels, the overall sleeve may tend to twist and deform; this distortion not only makes it difficult to release the sleeve from the trash bag (once the bag is filled), but it also tends to rip/tear the trash bag. In addition, the use of adhesives, or other closure means, to form the rectangular sleeve tends to wear after much use, which further aggravates the tendency to distort the sleeve shape. Should the closure means disengage, the yard refuse is then exposed to the trash bag, thereby defeating the purpose of the sleeve. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,778 (Boyle); U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,084 (Judge).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,022 (Reifers) discloses a device for loading trash bags. However, this device is meant for particular use with a conventional plastic trash bag and would, most likely, tear or rip a yard refuse bag due to the latter's rectangular construction and the bag engagement mechanism at the top of the device. Furthermore, the device requires that the user frequently lift the device/bag as it is filled in different stages in order to force collected yard refuse down inside the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,561 (O'Leary et al.) discloses a support for a flexible container. However, this support suffers from, among other things, a slit that can expose the refuse to the trash bag directly. In addition, this support is designed for a small, in-house trash container, not a large yard refuse bag.
Other trash bag support devices are shown in the following U.S. patents, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 576,782 (Goodrich); U.S. Pat. No. 579,228 (Frame); U.S. Pat. No. 645,544 (Bissell); U.S. Pat. No. 1,668,053 (Dawson); U.S. Pat. No. 2,172,529 (Barker et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,524 (Jerpbak); U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,087 (Alexander); U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,081 (Hawkinson); U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,011 (Rylander); U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,533 (Dieter); U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,982 (Cooke); U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,292 (Beckham); U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,965 (Aulabaugh); U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,609 (Tobin); U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,125 (Caveney); U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,554 (Dauphinais); U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,589 (Belous); U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,060 (Hodgon et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,022 (Palumbo); U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,117 (Alexander, III); U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,033 (Gibson).
However, none of these references appear to teach or suggest the use of a rigid liner inside a yard refuse bag that not only prevents the tearing/ripping of the yard bag during filling, but remains stable throughout the filling and removal operation, while providing features that facilitate the removal of the liner from the yard refuse bag after filling.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.